All Posts In Food News

Sushi and ceviche lovers, take note: Fish served raw or undercooked in New York City restaurants will soon be required to cool its fins for a bit in the freezer before it hits your plate — anywhere from 15 hours to a week, minimum, depending on the temperature and freezing process. The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has issued the directive, set to take effect in August, in keeping with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations, which aim to rid fish of parasites and bacteria. According to The New York Times, however, many NYC chefs already flash-freeze their fish in order to rid it of potential pathogens, and say it does not affect taste. Read more

Is the way you store your food at home making you fat? Scientists at Ohio State University have looked into how the home environment may influence eating behaviors — and found that there may be a correlation between where you keep your food and how likely you are to be obese. Read more

How bad are sugary drinks for us? On a global scale, their toll is staggering. According to a recent analysis of data from dozens of international dietary surveys and large-scale studies, published online in Circulation, sugar-sweetened-beverage consumption causes more than 184,000 deaths — about 133,000 deaths from diabetes, 45,000 from cardiovascular disease and 6,450 from cancer — worldwide every year. (Gulp.) In the United States alone, about 25,000 deaths annually are attributable to sugary drinks, The New York Times reports, noting that experts are calling for the elimination of sugary drinks from our food supply altogether. Read more

Chalk another one up for natural ingredients. Papa John’s will eliminate artificial ingredients and other additives from its menu items, it has announced. The move will cost the company about $100 million per year, Bloomberg reports. Last year the pizza chain removed monosodium glutamate (MSG) from its ranch dressing and trans fats from its garlic sauce; now it aims to eliminate 14 other ingredients, including corn syrup, artificial colors and several preservatives, many in the restaurants’ dipping sauces, by the end of 2016. The changes may affect some flavors, the company acknowledges, but Papa John’s, the third-largest pizza chain, behind Pizza Hut and Domino’s, is clearly trying to make good on its “better ingredients, better pizza” messaging. Read more

Trix are for kids who don’t want artificial flavors and colors in their cereal? Soon, silly rabbit, they will be. General Mills says it will remove artificial flavors and colors from the 40 percent of its cereals that still contain them. Trix and Reese’s Puffs will be among the first to lose the artificial ingredients, with new, less vibrantly hued versions (colored and flavored with fruit and vegetable juices and natural vanilla) expected this winter. By the end of 2017, General Mills says, artificial flavors and colors will be gone from all of its cereals, including those with marshmallows, as a response to consumer demand for “more recognizable and familiar ingredients” on cereal labels. Read more

During his long reign as mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg introduced public health initiatives, including banning trans fats in food prepared in NYC restaurants and requiring restaurants to post calorie counts. Now, his successor, Mayor Bill de Blasio, has proposed requiring chain restaurants to print a warning symbol (a little salt shaker) next to menu items that contain more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium, the recommended daily intake per U.S. guidelines. The Wall Street Journal reports that restaurants aren’t happy about the plan, which the city’s Board of Health will vote on in September. “Every single ingredient if it’s in excess could obviously cause you problems,” restaurant industry advocate Melissa Fleischut griped to the Journal. “Do we label every ingredient?” Read more

If you’re a big fan of peaches and nectarines, this news was made for you. You can now purchase a hybrid of summer’s top stone fruits in one juicy bite: the peacharine. The ones we tried from the Baldor Mobile Market were the Magenta Queen variety (available only in June) from Kingsburg Orchards in California. With the fuzzy outside of a peach and the sweet and smooth inside of a nectarine, this is the perfect combination of two seasonal favorites. Plus, it’s a one-for-one swap for the peaches in all of your favorite peach cobblers, crisps and pies. Read more

Worried about the commercial egg supply crisis brought on by the rapid spread of deadly bird flu across U.S. farms? Rightly so. The H5N2 virus has stricken and in many cases killed nearly 47 million birds, most of them hens who provided eggs for processed foods or bakeries. In only weeks, a third of the commercial egg supply has vanished, leaving bakers scrambling. The good news is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has approved the importation of egg products from the Netherlands to help relieve the pressure, and seven countries are now approved to import shell eggs for use by bakeries and food processors: Chile, Argentina, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Even though the flu will likely abate when temperatures rise, the effects on egg supply may linger for years. Meanwhile, the price of eggs for consumers has skyrocketed more than 120 percent, prompting some shoppers to buy less-affected cage-free and organic eggs, which haven’t seen as great a price surge. Read more

This month brings us not only the official beginning of summer (on June 21), but also all of those wonderful summer fruits and vegetables to add to our healthy diets. Look for sweet strawberries, thick asparagus spears, fresh peas, juicy peaches, earthy summer beats, and green garlic and spring garlic to appear at your local farmers market or CSA. “It is brilliant whole grilled and on pizza, or mince it and use it as you would garlic cloves or leeks, where it will impart a slightly milder, rounder flavor,” cookbook author and food blogger Tara O’Brady told Time. Read more

Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, both owned by Yum Brands, have announced plans to eliminate artificial colors and flavors from their menu items. This means that Taco Bell’s seasoned beef will soon feature black pepper rather than “black pepper flavor,” and artificial dyes including Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1 and carmine will be removed from the chain’s nacho cheese, avocado ranch dressing and red tortilla strips, respectively. High-fructose corn syrup, unsustainable palm oil and some (though not all) artificial preservatives will also be phased out, although fountain beverages and co-branded products will not be affected. Pizza Hut, meanwhile, aims to eliminate artificial colors and flavors by late July and will then begin listing ingredients online. Read more